Agenda and minutes

Contact: Samantha Somers 01546 604464 

Items
No. Item

11.

Welcome

a.       New Chair – Joe McKay, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service

b.      Retirements – Alex Taylor, Health and Social Care Partnership

 

Minutes:

The new chair, Joe McKay of Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, welcomed everyone to the meeting and introduced himself to the committee members noting that he was delighted to be working in the Argyll and Bute area. He previously held a role as Station Commander in Clydebank so he knows the area well. He also wished Andy Watt, the outgoing chair, congratulations on his recent promotion and thanked him for his work with the CPP.

 

The retirement of Alex Taylor, Health and Social Care Partnership was noted with best wishes given to Alex for his retirement.

 

12.

Wild Camping and Campervans Presentation (Fergus Murray)

Minutes:

Fergus Murray gave a presentation outlining the proposed draft action plan / steps to tackle irresponsible camping within Argyll and Bute, and support communities with this.

 

Pippa noted that the OLI Area Committee were keen this was raised so that it could be responded to by the partnership and she encouraged partners to work together to resolve this. Douglas added that there are issues across the area, within and out with the National Park area, and agreed an action plan is needed. He cited waste disposal as a key issue, having received over 60 calls a day regarding this i.e. camping equipment left on sites for landowners to deal with. He suggested that camper van rental companies could be asked to issue advice for visitors and that it would be good to resolve this matter before next year. Derek agreed there is an issue with some visitors, but there is also an economic opportunity. It would be a good idea to get landowners on side and the Scottish Government has made funds available for other tourist routes i.e. West Coast 500, to provide infrastructure to support increased visitor numbers. He added that Social Enterprise would be keen to promote that idea and support this.

 

Kirsteen said that both public and private funding streams are restricted at the moment, so any plans would need to be created that meet the specific criteria of any available funding, and that speaking to communities and involving 3rd sector organisations may help to leverage funding with good local results. She asked Fergus if these groups could be included in the process from the beginning. Cathleen asked what can be done about the road infrastructure and many motorhomes are too wide for some of our narrow roads. She also felt that many motorhome visitors brought much of their own food with them, so asked how much these visitors spend locally. Fergus responded that motorhomes form a large part of the area tourism, effectively replacing coach holidays and the associated hotel business, and these tourists create an estimated local spend of £100 a day (however, more research is needed to confirm that amount). Fergus felt we needed to communicate that better with our communities. He stated that roads are a challenge across all of Argyll & Bute for vehicles of any size, and we need to try to encourage motorhomes and campers away from the main roads and in to specific areas. He agreed that funding is scarce, however, through the tourism infrastructure fund they are already helping with communities. HiE also has received funding from the Scottish Government and Visit Scotland are keen to help on this. Fergus is happy to speak with all our partners to better use the facilities we already have i.e. ask Calmac to allow waste disposal at ferry terminals.

 

Cathleen asked if large roadside bins can be reinstated at hotspots to ease waste disposal issues. Ian noted that East Kintyre Community Council have had no communication on this but they have been doing an informal road survey which found that in that area, every 4th vehicle is a motorhome. In Carradale there are two forestry car parks, one site has no bins and rubbish is just left there, and the other site has only one bin which is emptied by locals. He added that there is no chemical waste disposal site south of Tarbert so a map of where chemical waste disposal sites are and more / bigger bins is needed. Pippa said we all share the frustrations voiced about tourists who abuse the area and anti-social behaviour, but we do need to make most of the opportunities that exist. She described how the Western Isles have various community initiatives that charge for providing services to tourists that could be replicated here as appropriate, but no single group can solve these issues and a partnership approach is essential.

 

The Rural Advisory Group is doing work on this, but they have not approached council yet so it would be good to create a subgroup to come up with an overall strategy together and look at routes to leverage funding to address the issues. It was noted that some private camp sites have not reopened and could the council support them to reopen. Fergus said all points raised are valid and as the action plan has not yet been created he plans to present the work to, and plan with, communities to improve the situation before next year’s season as the tourist demands on our area is likely to continue. He said there is advice available to businesses to support them reopening but some private sites did not want to open for their own personal reasons. Fergus said the will report on the outcomes from the subgroup to a later CPP Management Committee.

 

ACTION – Sub group to be set up to create plan and progress to be reported back to future CPP MC. Partners interested in being part of the sub group are to contact Fergus Murray.

 

Kirsteen agreed that a sub group should be set up and felt that communities, development trusts and social enterprises need to be part of the planning process to input ideas and solutions from the start. Cathleen also agreed that a bottom up approach is needed and that the sub group should speak to communities first to see what the problems are and ensure that the communities are engaged. Fergus noted that part of the “mapping the issue” part of the process is about speaking to people to finalise the action plan. He wants to work with communities, stating that this is a big problem and we need a plan to help mitigate the situation, and officers will liaise with communities.

 

13.

Action Log and Matters Arising from last meeting pdf icon PDF 516 KB

Minutes:

The last minutes were agreed as a true and accurate record of the June meeting.

Alison commented that on suicide prevent, Joanna MacDonald was appointed as the lead officer and Alison will update on this in this meeting.

 

Outstanding actions were updated as follows :-

 

TSI Volunteering Framework – Kirsteen advised that no comments on this had been received by partners. The paper covers the principles of good practice in volunteer recruitment and good volunteer management, which has proved vital during the COVID response. Kirsteen welcomed partner thoughts and Rona suggested this be raised at the December meeting.

 

Action – TSI Volunteering Framework to be recirculated to members for agreement at December meeting. Comments to Kirsteen well in advance of 2 December 20.

 

Policing Survey – Complete as survey closed on 1 September 20.

 

National Recovery Report – Pippa advised this was ongoing. Working through recovery, while still responding to the pandemic, has meant that there is no definitive bit of information to refer people to yet.

 

Recovery and Renewal CPP Workshop – There has been no progress on this due to a change in chair and the ongoing partnership work on recovery groups with communities. Due to partners continued engagement in in COVID response, resilience, renewal and recovery it was agreed that it was not the right time to pursue a workshop. It was agreed that the ACPGS were best placed as an “ear to the ground” to understand what is going on in, and affecting, communities. A less structured approach whereby the ACPGs can feedback matters arising to the CPP was agreed as the best approach and way forward.

 

14.

Suicide Prevention Steering Group (Alison McGrory)

Minutes:

Suicide prevention steering group – Alison advised that a report was provided to the June CPP MC on this. Suicide prevention is often badged as a Health and Social Care issue but often those really struggling are not yet known to those services so we must consider the wider aspects of this. COSLA have looked at the 10 areas noted in the “Every Life Matters” paper from the Scottish Government and further condensed that to 5 priority areas - suicide and mental health awareness training, public awareness campaigns, models of crisis support/ distress brief intervention, digital technology and data (i.e. local intelligence). Work is ongoing by the group led by Joanna MacDonald. Alison wanted to remind members that this is not just a Health and Social Care issue and the group needs wider membership. The Police are already in support and she invited other partners and their staff to join the steering groups. The next meeting of the group is on 29 October 20 from 9-10am.

 

ACTION – Can all partners / staff interested in joining the suicide prevention steering group please contact Alison.

 

15.

Area Community Planning Groups

16.

Update from the Chairs Meeting

Minutes:

Patricia advised that a decision was made in July to cancel the ACPGs scheduled for August to give the groups time to in advance of the November Meetings. ACPG members were surveyed options to hold virtual meetings then the Chairs and Vice-Chairs met to discuss the options. It was agreed that the November meetings would be held via Skype with a possible video option to support that. Trial meetings have been offered in advance of November meetings to ensure that everyone can participate and to offer advice on how to join the Skype calls. Standardised agendas have been agreed across all 4 ACPGS that will cover Partners updates, COVID response, Action plans, Action update, Argyll & Bute Brexit response, councillor boundary proposals and community issues.

 

Patricia advised that John Fleming, Chair of OLI ACPG has resigned and Cllr Robertson, OLI Vice-Chair has reached the end of their term, therefore, election of both positions will be held at the November meeting. In MAKI, Andy Bunton’s one year term ended in August so a Vice-Chair election will be held in November.  Cathleen added that the ACPGs had also agreed to trial using Basecamp for way for the groups to communicate more effectively. There will be a presentation on this at the November ACPG meetings in all areas. 

 

17.

Update from the Bute and Cowal Area Community Planning Group (Cathleen Russell)

Minutes:

Cathleen said there was not much to report due to COVID. Communities have really risen to the challenge with lots of resilience groups forming to help communities. Support from doctors and surgeries and the delivering of prescriptions and food has been very important. Telephone trees were set up to keep in contact with individuals in the area but she felt staying in contact with the other Community Councils in the area has been hard and that is something that they need to build on to make that easier in the future.

 

 

 

18.

Update from the Helensburgh and Lomond Area Community Planning Group (Laura Cameron)

Minutes:

Apologies have been submitted by both Chair and Vice-Chair and there is no written update to provide.

 

 

19.

Update from the Mid Argyll, Kintyre and the Islands Area Community Planning Group (Ian Brodie)

Minutes:

Ian noted a similar update to Bute and Cowal. Resilience groups have been formed supporting  hand wash delivery from GPs in Carradale, delivering soap from the South Kintyre Development Trust, groups helping with food and prescription deliveries, Shopper-Aide increased deliveries and the local Co-Op started online shopping and deliveries.

 

 

20.

Update from the Oban, Lorn and the Isles Area Community Planning Group (John Fleming)

Minutes:

There is no written update as the Chair has resigned from post.

 

21.

New timetable for Locality Plans (Samantha Somers) pdf icon PDF 222 KB

Minutes:

 

Rona advised that the Place Standard Tool had been used extensively across communities and the results of this was used to create key priorities. The results can be found on the council website https://www.argyll-bute.gov.uk/how-good-your-place.

 

Part 4 of the report provided to the meeting details the new timetable to produce locality plans. It is important for the CPP MC and partners to know about, and input to, the locality plans. The impact of COVID needs to be included 19 into the plans and there is a commitment to co-produce these plans with collaborative discussion and to look at creative ways to present these plans to communities.

 

 

 

22.

Delivery Plans

23.

Outcome 3: Education, skills and training maximises opportunities for all - update (Anne Paterson)

Minutes:

Education, training and skills maximises opportunities for all –Apologies were received from Anne and Anthony so this will be discussed at a future meeting.

 

24.

Cross Cutting Themes and Future New Ways of Working (Rona Gold) pdf icon PDF 396 KB

Minutes:

Good partnership groups exist that work across Outcomes and leads have raised the need to focus of these cross cutting themes. The report lays out suggestions of where cross cutting themes exist and proposes the formation of working groups that will then report back to the Management Committee quarterly. Agreement is sought of the cross cutting themes identified and requests members to join the working groups. 

 

Morag welcomed the report as it builds on discussions from last year and will add value to what is discussed. She asked for more detail of what is under the 4 themes. Morag is happy to engage on Community Wealth Building. Pippa and Alison also agreed with the report. Alison noted the current plans run till 2023 and asked if the 6 outcomes will be reconsidered before that time. Rona responded to confirm that a new iteration of the outcome plan does need to be in place by 2023, and this work is a way of moving us towards that on both long term objectives and agility to adapt to upcoming issues. In the new year, Rona will look at engaging with partners to see what this may look like in practice.

 

Fergus agreed that Community Wealth Building has to be a cross cutting theme as it is a government priority moving forward and he hoped the CPP MC will be a driver on this. Climate change, Poverty etc also need weight behind them and a focus on moving forward as a community. COVID has changed the fundamentals of the economy as there are now limited opportunities for youth employment and a deficit of employment for those aged over 50.

 

Action – CPP team to expand on the detail of each theme and distribute to CPP MC.

 

Kirsteen agreed that supporting the cross cutting themes is a good way forward. She suggested a slight change to the second theme to read “social and digital inclusion” (not social isolation). There was no objection to this and it will be actioned. On Community Wealth Building, Kirsteen felt it is important that we get that going and link to the council overarching economic recovery plan as soon as possible. She noted concern at the current lack of community and social enterprise involvement. Kirsteen and Fergus are happy to be involved in Community Wealth Building.

 

Action – CPP team to amend Social Isolation theme to Social and Digital Inclusion.

 

Rona suggested that resourcing for Community Wealth Building be prioritised, then climate, social digital inclusion and poverty and groups will be brought together to take this forward.

 

Action - If any partners have a resource to bring people together to move these discussions forward please let Rona know.

 

25.

AOCB

Minutes:

No items raised.

26.

Date of Next Meeting

Minutes:

The next meeting will be held on 2 December 2020, detail will follow in due course